How to Disable Google Assistant

It was maddening for many when last year Google pushed its AI decorated Google Assistant to Android Nougat & Marshmallow smartphones. The reason was simple. Google allotted the ‘Home’ button press event to Google Assistant in place of its old buddy Google app. Assistant happens to be the upgraded version of Google voice search, but still, people tend to crave for their old buddy and look for ways to disable Google Assistant.

But if it is a revamped version with added features like AI, then why people want to turn off Google Assistant in the first place? Well, it did not take me days to figure out fundamental problems with Assistant in comparison to its own old pal Google app.

Reason to disable Google Assistant – No typing feature available

A user never expects to get a whole change in the orientation with an upgrade. And that’s what happened with Google Assistant. With the new release, Google completely changed the way Google voice search performed in the past. Addition of artificial intelligence is a cool feature, but they should not have removed the search or typing feature in Google Assistant (Especially, when the app is launched).

Even now, if you launch Google app, then a user has a choice of typing or speaking. But this feature is missing with its Assistant app. In Google Assistant, typing only gets enabled when you get past the first query. There are hundreds of places where you may not like to speak loud, for instance, weddings, business meetings, etc.

How to turn off Google Assistant – Steps

Step 1 – Launch Google Assistant

Step 2 – Go to Settings menu

Click ‘Settings’.

Look for ‘Phone’ section and click it.

Step 3 – Disable Google Assistant

Now look for “Google Assistant.”

Here you can disable or enable Google Assistant.

If you want to make sure if Google Assistant is working or not, then once again press and hold the home button. You should see a similar screen like below. From here, you can also enable Google Assistant once again.

As you all know that Google app still exists with its elder brother, Assistant. So, instead of disabling Google Assistant if we could attach Google app with the Home button, just like the old days, then it could be a win-win situation.

There is a third-party app, Nova Launcher, which can serve this purpose. It will not disable Assistant completely, but it will assign home button press to Google app.

That’s it. Pretty easy, hmm! Still, you will be able to launch Google Assistant when you long press the home button. However, if you just press once while you are on your smartphone home screen, then Google app will launch.

Also, you cannot compare Google Assistant with Siri as both are kind of same now. But Siri never had typing option from day one. So, there is no room to complain.